164 THE SHEPHERD'S MANUAL* 



both for economy in freight, which in light bulky articles, is 

 charged according to bulk and not by weight, and for the better 

 condition of the fleeces on their arrival at their destination. A 

 convenient method of baling the fleeces, is to hang the sack from 

 a trap-door in the wool loft, as shown in figure 59. The fleeces are 

 handed or thrown to the packer, who places them in the sack, 

 pressing them down close with his bare feet, and, as he reaches the 

 top, with his knees ; a handful of tags is put in each corner of the 

 sack and tied tightly to make a handle by which the package can 

 be hauled about in its transportation to market. When filled, the 

 bale should be plainly marked with the exact weight, tare, and 

 net weight, upon one of its sides. 



SORTING. When the wool reaches the dealer, it undergoes a 

 process of sorting. The same fleece contains wool of various de- 

 grees of fineness, and it must be prepared for the manufacturer, 

 who purchases only exactly what he needs for his particular use. 

 The fleece is unrolled, and the sorter selects the fine locks from 

 the coarse ones; the neck, shoulder, and side wool from the thigj, 

 and haunch wool ; and this from the belly and breech wool. Each 

 fleece is sorted into from six to ten different qualities, which are 

 selected by the sorter with surprising quickness and certainty. A 

 well rolled fleece is much more quickly handled than one made up 

 disorderly, and the saving of the time of a highly paid workman, 

 is of itself sufiicient to enhance the value of a well packed fleece 

 over that of an opposite character several cents a pound. 



The final disposition of the wool, after it has reached the manu- 

 facturer, is not within the limits of this book, although the vari- 

 ous processes of scouring, dyeing, oiling, plucking, carding, comb- 

 ing, breaking, drawing, roving, spinning, reeling, and weaving, 

 are all of the greatest interest to the wool grower, as relating very 

 intimately to his share of the general industry, and showing how 

 far the best management of his flock goes to ease the labors, and 

 facilitate the operations, of the numerous artisans concerned in all 

 these various branches of the manufacture, and consequently 

 adding to the value of his raw product. The perfection of the 

 various processes cannot be better illustrated than by the facts 

 that in only ordinary spinning, a pound of wool is made to extend 

 three-fourths of a mile ; in superfine spinning, it stretches to a dis- 

 tance of 22 miles; and that the very finest woolen yarn hitherto 

 spun, will reach a distance of 95 miles for every pound. Fifteen 

 hundred fibers of the finest wool laid side by side will cover only 

 one inch of space, and 2,225,000 of them placed compactly to- 

 gether, will make a bundle only one inch square. How much evil 



